[Sussex] A Year without windows

[Ronan Chilvers]

nik wrote:
> http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/05/17/2114251
>
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A little surprising that while I was reading the article there was a
massive flash advert for Windows 2003 and TCO in the middle of the page!
 I suppose Newsforge uses an external advert service, but even so, Bill
G would have giggled!

In all seriousness, the lack of an acceptable Access replacement is a
stumbling block for small businesses, I think. Access is great for
whipping up small, easy databases very quickly.  Yes, I know that
there's a big choice of database servers with every desktop distro, but
Mr. Smith in manufacturing doesn't want to have to install MySQL - he
wants a quick db that he can stick on CD to back it up, with which he
can track his schedule.  Now it may not be great practice to have lots
of people of varying skills writing databases that getted dotted around
a company, but it's what happens and at the moment, as far as I know,
you can't do it on Linux which is a shame.

A _possible_ avenue to explore might be something like Gambas
(http://gambas.sf.net).  For those who don't know its a VB like BASIC
language with IDE for Linux.  If you're an Ubuntoid, then apt-get istall
gambas.  Excellent project which has ENORMOUS potential to bring RAD to
Linux in a familiar and stable way.  It also natively supports MySQL,
Postgresql and SQLlite.  Could potentially be a solution to the quick DB
problem?

Adios

--
Ronan

e: ronan at thelittledot.com
w: www.thelittledot.com
t: 01903 739 997
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